A wry cultural observer, Masami Teraoka takes his inspiration from a wide range of styles, eras, and genres. Seen here are works that sometimes humorously, sometimes darkly, provide narratives that explore contested social issues. The collision of Japanese and American culture in the 70’s and 80’s, as seen in 31 Flavors Invading Japan (1980-82) and Sarah and Octopus/Seventh Heaven (2001), the international catastrophe of the AIDS epidemic in AIDS series/Geisha in Ofuro (2010) and the reproductive rights of women in The Cloisters/Pilgrim (2010) are only some of the subjects addressed. Teraoka continually melds culturally specific iconography with contemporary global vernacular, mocking any placid acceptance of our incredibly fallible human condition.
Throughout his career, Teraoka has masterfully absorbed and appropriated at least four historic styles. Artistically evolving from the exploration of the Ukiyo-e tradition of his native Japan, to Europe and the panel paintings of the Northern Renaissance and Hieronimus Bosch, to the Heaven and Hellseries of photographer Andres Serrano. Masami Teraoka creates what he calls a “cross-epoch conversation.” His committed adherence to a high standard of compositional aesthetics ensures that while his commentary and subject vocabulary disturbs and provokes, it does so in a cohesively exquisite manner.
Masami Teraoka was born in 1939 in Onomichi, Hiroshima prefecture, Japan. He received his B.A. in aesthetics from Kwansei Gakuin University in 1959, after which he attended the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles, receiving a B.F.A. and ultimately an M.F.A. in 1968. In 1980 he relocated to Hawaii, where he continues to reside. Masami Teraoka’s works can be found in over 50 public collections, including Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, Tate Modern, London, England and Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC.
Teraoka’s work has been presented in more than 100 exhibitions worldwide, including Masami Teraoka, New Albion Gallery, Surry Hills, Australia, 2012, Masami Teraoka, Samuel Freeman, Los Angeles, California, 2012, The Last Super/The Inversion of the Sacred, Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco, California (2010), Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon (2006), Paintings by Masami Teraoka, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. (1996) and Masami Teraoka, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York (1980, travel to Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco, California).
ABOUT (ART) AMALGAMATED
Located in New York City, (Art) Amalgamated is a new project that showcases both modern and contemporary art, with a particular emphasis in utilizing innovative methods for the curatorial framing of our shows. (Art) Amalgamated’s goal is to provide an exhibition platform that does not fit comfortably within the confines of traditional art venue, but rather a comprehensive entity encompassing full art advisory, collection management and art appraisal services.
Press Contact:
Dan Schwartz/Danielle Mayer
Susan Grant Lewin Associates
212.947.4557
